The City Council approved the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity with modifications, following approval by the land use committees, marking a major milestone for the City of Yes. The package passed by the Council committees advances a very strong set of zoning reforms that will deliver 80,000 units of housing over 15 years spread throughout the city. This will increase housing supply and create a more fair city for all.

In addition, the City Council secured $5 billion from the City and State for housing and infrastructure investments to compliment the City of Yes.

We are grateful to everyone involved, including First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, DCP Director Dan Garodnick, Speaker Adrienne Adams and all of the pro-housing Councilmembers that are supporting City of Yes. And we thank all our partners in the Yes to Housing coalition. Your energy, commitment and advocacy are major reasons that the proposal has cleared this important step.

Below is a description of the modified City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning change and the additional investments. You can also see the Council’s detailed explanation of the changes here.

City of Yes for Housing Opportunity

Universal Affordability Preference: Gives a 20% zoning bonus in medium and high-density neighborhoods if the additional density is affordable housing at an average of 60% AMI. City Council modifications create a requirement that 20% of the affordable units be affordable at 40% AMI in projects of more than 10,000 square feet.

Accessory Dwelling Units: The City of Yes proposal allowed one-unit ADUs up to 800 square feet citywide, including detached, attached extension, attic, and basement accessory units on lots with 1 or 2 family homes.

The Council modifications prohibit ground floor ADUs (detached or attached extensions) and basement ADUs in both the coastal flood zone (which was in the original proposal) and areas the City identifies as vulnerable to inland flooding from heavy rain.

It also prohibits detached and attached backyard ADUs in historic districts and in R1A, R2A and R3A districts outside the greater transit zone.

The Council also reduced the lot coverage so that ADUs cannot cover more than 33% of the rear yard, down from 50% in the original proposal. In addition, ADUs are prohibited in attached or row houses. ADUs cannot be more than one story unless parking is provided on the first floor. Finally, ADUs are only allowed in owner-occupied housing.

Transit Oriented Development: This proposal would allow 3-5 story buildings within 0.5 miles of public transit on lots that are 5,000 square feet or larger and located along wide streets or short blocks. Council modifications exclude TOD from R1 and R2 zoning, leaving it in place for R3, R4 and R5 districts.

In addition, the Council reduced the TOD radius to 0.25 miles for outermost stations of the LIRR and Metro North.

In addition, the Council added affordability requirements for large TOD projects – requiring that projects 50 units or more can only take full advantage of TOD if 20% of units are affordable at 80% AMI.

Town Center Zoning: This proposal allows 3-5 story apartment buildings in low-density districts (R1-R5) on streets with commercial zoning.

The Council modifications do not allow Town Center developments where Commercial overlays are a single, isolated block, or on a block with a Commercial overlay that today is developed with mostly 1-2 family homes.

In addition, the Council added affordability requirements for large Town Center projects – the Council modifications require that projects 50 units or more can only take full advantage of Town Center Zoning if 20% of units are affordable at 80% AMI.

Removing Parking Mandates: The City of Yes proposed to eliminate parking requirements for new housing citywide (there are currently no parking requirements in core Manhattan – south of 110th Street on the west side and 96th Street on the east side and parts of Long Island City).

The Council modified parking requirements in three zones.

Zone 1 – Manhattan (except Inwood), Long Island City, parts of Western Queens and Brooklyn: there will be no parking requirements for new developments.

Zone 2 – most of the Bronx, parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island with access to transit but with significant car usage: parking requirements are reduced.

Zone 3: current parking requirements are mostly maintained.

The Council proposal does eliminate parking requirements citywide for certain types of projects: ADUs, conversions, and transit-oriented development.

Affordable housing will have no parking mandates in Zones 1 and 2 and in Zone 3 would have a reduced requirement. Town Center developments would have no parking requirement for buildings with 75 units or less and over 75 units would have a standard requirement.

You can see a map of the three parking zones here.

Infill: These proposals would have changed zoning rules to make it easier for infill development on campuses with available FAR. The City Planning Commission modified the proposal to exclude NYCHA campuses from the changes. The City Council further modified it to create lot coverage requirements for sites with less than 1.5 acres and prohibit development on open space currently used for recreation purposes, unless replaced in kind.

Small Housing: This proposal would have eliminated the dwelling unit factor in the inner transit zone and reduced it to 500 square feet outside the inner transit zone. The Council modified the proposal to maintain DUF for existing housing and for new apartment buildings eliminate the DUF in Manhattan below 96th street and downtown Brooklyn and reduced DUF to 680 square feet in all other areas.

Shared Housing: This would remove zoning restrictions to shared housing. However, enabling shared housing still requires Council legislation to amend the administrative code and establish rules and regulations. Council said they will want regulations that prioritize housing quality, tenant rights and safety, and suitability of locations. This legislative process will occur after City of Yes.

Landmark Transfers: This would expand the area that Floor Area from a landmark can be transferred and convert all landmark transfers from a special permit to a certification and allow bulk modifications through an authorization. Floor area of a receiving site can only be increased by 20%. Council changes require a special permit for height increase more than 25%.

City for All Funding

The City Council secured $5 billion in additional funding as part of their City for All proposal complimenting City of Yes. The funding includes $4 billion from the City and $1 billion from the state, and we are grateful for Speaker Adams and the City Council for fighting for investments and for Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul’s commitment to adding resources for housing and infrastructure. Below is a description of the additional funding.

  • $2B in housing capital for affordable housing preservation, including Mitchell-Lama projects, NYCHA investments, and HDFCs and a joint City-State Mitchell-Lama Task Force to improve and stabilize Mitchell-Lama projects citywide
  • 200 new staff lines for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to support a range of development, planning, and enforcement functions across the agency, and the Department of Buildings.
  • $2B in infrastructure investments including stormwater and drainage systems, street improvements, open space, and sewer upgrades.
  • $200M to NYCHA to promote vacant unit readiness and Section 9 repairs
  • $215M in additional funding for CityFHEPS across FY25 and FY26
  • $187 million in increased CityFHEPS rental assistance for rehabilitation and conversion of homeless housing over ten years
  • $137 million in capital for Justice Involved Supportive Housing and the 15/15 Supportive Housing program
  • $41 million to double HomeFirst downpayment assistance and expand eligibility to more moderate income homebuyers
  • $27.7 million to expand HomeFix 2.0 to support homeowners’ repairs
  • $7.6 million to restore baselined funding for the Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) program in FY2025 and the out years.
  • $1.41 million per year in Partners in Preservation for tenant organizing
  • $5.9 million in FY2025 to support the Department of City Planning’s capacity for neighborhood planning efforts and a commitment to initiate neighborhood planning studies in Brooklyn Community Boards 12, 14, and 17 (Central Brooklyn) and Bronx Community Boards 7 and 12 (northern Bronx) beginning in 2025.